Finally, the NHL figures it out

This torturous soap opera — billionaires against millionaires at the expense of Bruins fans who long for their team — is finally over.

Mick Colageo

Ray Bourque knows the drill, and he called his shot back on Oct. 12, the night his son Chris made his Providence Bruins debut.

"Listen," he said, "they'll make a deal when they have to make a deal."

And so they did — with the clock ticking against a league-imposed Thursday deadline, the National Hockey League and the NHL Players Association announced accord at 5 a.m. Sunday on a collective bargaining agreement that will guarantee labor peace for the next eight years.

This torturous soap opera — billionaires against millionaires at the expense of Bruins fans who long for their team, even through the dog days of summer and more so when the leaves begin to turn — is finally over.

Snow is frozen to the ground, ponds are covered with ice, hockey is long past due, and the Bruins are finally back like a belated Christmas.

"It's about time, that's all I've got to say about that," said Providence Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy after Sunday's matinee loss to Springfield — even though Cassidy's best players get tryouts later this week to fill a few spots in the Boston roster.

A hastily arranged NHL season will open on Jan. 15 or Jan. 19, depending on how fast the league can make its new CBA official and plot a schedule.

The damage done to fandom cannot be known; there are many standing on soapboxes announcing they no longer care, but everyone knows those who bother to make such an announcement most certainly care. Only the damage to North Station-area businesses and individuals whose livelihoods depend on game-day employment can be quantified.

But it's appropriate if not tasteful to note that we've heard many complaints over the years over the length of the hockey season, its six-month, 82-game regular season and nine weeks of playoffs just a little too much to swallow.

Well here it is: a season without 34 of the games people liked to complain about. The shortened schedule won't be delivered when you wanted it — expect the season to last into early May and the playoffs into late June — but it's a rare opportunity for fans to experience a hockey season about as long as ones the Bruins typically played until 1946, when the NHL schedule jumped from 50 to 60 games.

They didn't have four rounds of best-of-7 back then, so the playoffs are a whole other animal. The race to Stanley Cup contention, however, will be a blast from the past and a sprint full of urgency and short on patience.

"Obviously it's good for the game that the NHL's back. I haven't really been able to think about it because we had the game today, but it's great. Hopefully I get an opportunity," said Chris Bourque, who on the verge of his 27th birthday (Jan. 29) is yet a tweener caught between NHL and AHL career paths. "We haven't really heard anything to tell you the truth, but hopefully I get the opportunity to show what I've got and hopefully try and earn a spot up there."

In a cruel way, it helps Chris Bourque's prospects that Jordan Caron, his main competition for Boston's third-line left-wing spot, injured his shoulder on Friday night and will be out indefinitely.

There are no guarantees, and if coach Claude Julien is confident in his playmakers, he could opt for relentless net hound Jamie Tardif instead.

Ray Bourque's experience with NHL lockouts helped him stay patient, as a hockey fan and as the owner of a restaurant in Boston North End. But he wasn't able to help his son too much.

"I talked to him a little bit," said Chris. "He was a grizzled veteran in '94-95. "» I asked him a couple of questions, like what happened for training camp and he didn't even remember."

Ray Bourque only remembers what it was like without the game.

"I remember being away for Christmas and being in Montreal with my family, at that point not really thinking that we were going to come back," he said.

By Jan. 22, 1995, he was back on the ice playing for the Boston Bruins.

"It was a relief."

In these times of NHL prosperity — the league's annual revenue has increased from $2.1 billion to $3.3 billion between 2004 and 2012 — the senior Bourque couldn't imagine the league or the union flushing another full season down the toilet like it did in 2004-05, when owners were desperately holding out for some sort of cost control. The NHL got its salary cap from the last lockout and only wanted to sweeten its deal in this one.

"I always thought it would get settled and I thought it would be right around this time," said Ray Bourque.

And thusly, his eldest son has a legitimate shot to become the second part of the third father-son combination in Bruins history, following Harvey Bennett Sr. (1944-45) and son Bill Bennett (1978-79) and Grahame goaltenders Ron (1977-78) and John (1999-2000 — 2002-03).

Chris Bourque set up Providence's lone goal in Sunday's loss, lifting his AHL season totals to a team-best 8-20-28 in 32 games played.

"We're in game shape, that's for sure. I'm sure some of those (NHL) guys around here aren't able to get that kind of game feel. That's why guys went overseas," he said. "We're lucky enough down here to be able to play at a high level because of the lockout. I think that benefits us."

But with a single goal and three assists in 33 career NHL games split between the Capitals and the Penguins, Chris Bourque has yet to show he belongs in the majors. The legendary No. 77 was less committal when asked about his son's chances of making the Bruins now that the lockout has been lifted.

"We hope he gets an opportunity. I think he has a good chance at getting an opportunity and for him to make the best of it if he does," said Ray Bourque. "He's done pretty well down here (in Providence). Of late, he's played pretty well so we'd love to see it."

Mick Colageo covers hockey for The Standard-Times. Contact him at mcolageo@s-t.com and visit Rink Rap at blogs.southcoasttoday.com/bruins